Amnesty International recently released a report on the extent of torture and abuse directed against women worldwide.
The report, Broken Bodies, Shattered Minds, notes that “under international law, the state has clear responsibility for human rights abuses committed by non-state actors — people and organizations acting outside the state and its organs,” but that many nation states turn their backs on such abuses for cultural reasons.
Amnesty International also documents the torture and abuse that many women suffer within prison systems around the world, including the United States. Ironically one of Amnesty International’s complaints about abuse of women in U.S. prisons is a direct result of feminist achievements,
Allegations of sexual abuse of women prisoners in the USA nearly always involve male staff who, contrary to international standards, are allowed unsupervised access to female jail and prison inmates in many jurisdictions.
The report makes for fascinating, if depressing reading, and can be downloaded in PDF format from the Amnesty International web site at the link below.
Source:
Broken bodies, shattered minds: Torture and ill-treatment of women. Amnesty International, Press Release, April 1, 2001.